Now John McManus, 37, and Stephanie Todd remain behind bars charged with several counts of uttering forgery and mail fraud.

“Investigators arrested the two individuals in connection with mail theft, mainly on the east side of the county. Right now, investigators uncovered at least 40 different individuals this mail belonged to. We feel like there’s going to be more arrests. We did discover that the suspects actually burnt a lot of the mail that they had taken,” said Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott.

The checks range anywhere from $100 to $150. Sheriff Scott says some of the mail stolen were postmarked back to September.

“We started getting reports from the community about strange vehicles being parked at some of the mailboxes. About that time we also started getting reports of mail that was coming up missing and they thought something was weird about it,” said Sheriff Scott.

Stealing and tampering with mail is a federal offense. The U.S. Postal inspector in Jackson is assisting Clay County investigators. Officials are forwarding their information to the U.S. attorneys office in Oxford. Postal theft has significantly dropped over the last several years, but Sheriff Scott says people should still monitor their mail.

“We encourage all of our citizens if they see a strange vehicle, we encourage them not to chase them, but to call 911. If there’s any possible way they can get a tag number that’s great. But if nothing else, just give us a good general description of the vehicle and the direction of travel,” said Sheriff Scott.

None of the debit cards stolen were activated, but Sheriff Scott is still asking people living the area to pay close attention to their bank statements just in case.

The investigation remains ongoing. If you have any information on the case, please call the Clay County Sheriff’s Department.